sometimes acted as though the space around my house belonged to everyone in the neighborhood rather than to the people who actually owned it.
I had ignored most of it.
There are some battles that simply aren’t worth fighting.
But parking a heavy SUV in the middle of my lawn was different.
I had spent months taking care of that grass.
I watered it regularly. I trimmed it. I removed weeds. I repaired bare patches and worked hard to keep it looking healthy.
It wasn’t just grass to me.
It was part of my home.
And now four tires had dug deep marks into it simply because my neighbor apparently couldn’t be bothered to find somewhere else to park.
I put my coffee down.
Then I walked outside.
### The Conversation
I crossed the lawn, carefully stepping around the tire tracks, and headed toward my neighbor’s house.
I rang the doorbell.
A few moments later, the door opened.
My neighbor was standing there with a smile on his face.
That smile immediately told me something.
He knew exactly why I was there.
In fact, he almost seemed amused.
“Can you please move your SUV?” I asked.
I kept my voice calm.
I wasn’t interested in shouting.
I simply wanted him to understand that he had crossed a line.
Instead of apologizing, he laughed.
Then he glanced toward my lawn and shrugged.
“It’s just a little grass,” he said.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“A little grass?”
He had parked a large SUV in the middle of my yard, damaged the lawn, and was now acting as though I was being unreasonable for objecting.
I explained that there was plenty of parking available on the street and asked him again to move the vehicle.
He leaned against the doorway.